Ki-Hyeon Seol, a South Korean professional football player, was born on January 8, 1979 in Jeongseon, Gangwon-do. In 2002, he married Yoon Mi and they have a son, In-Woong, and a daughter, Soo-A. He is a part of the Korean Republic national football team since 2000 and has played in the final match of 2002 Fédération Internationale de Football Association( FIFA) World Cup, hosted by Republic of Korea and Japan, which was his first World Cup. Ki-Hyeon Seol was an important member in the national team and scored an unforgettable goal in the knock–out stages that equalized Korea with Italy. As of May 2008, he has made 77 appearances and has scored 18 goals with the Korean Republic national football team.
Ki-Hyeon Seol started his career in football by joining Royal Antwerp F.C in Belgium, following which he moved to R.S.C Anderlecht. In his stint with Anderlecht, he played in the Belgian Super Cup, in which he made a hat-trick in an interval of 12 minutes. Ki-Hyeon Seol also played in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League, becoming the first Korean to play in Champions League. In his stint with the club, he netted a total of 34 goals in 72 matches.
In 2004, Ki-Hyeon Seol joined Wolverhampton Wanderers, Football League Championship club, and made more than 30 appearances by the end of the 2004–05 season. He was one of the first-choice strikers for Glenn Hoddle, former Wolverhampton coach, who exploited his football skills in a wide, supporting role to the main strikers.
On July 12, 2006, Ki-Hyeon Seol joined Reading F.C, a newly promoted Premier League club, despite having two years of Wanderers’ contract left. He played in all three of the Royals Premiership games in August and was instrumental in making three of the four goals that his team scored. On September 16, 2006, Ki-Hyeon Seol scored his first Premiership goal for the club, when his team won (2-1) against Sheffield United. His second goal for Reading came in a clash with West Ham United, which was the only goal for the match. He was voted as the official ‘Player of the Month’ for two consecutive months, August and September, in 2006 by Reading fans. On November 18, 2006 in a 2–0 win against Charlton Athletic, Ki-Hyeon Seol made his third goal for Reading, which was his first goal at home. He finished that season by netting a goal against Blackburn, last game of the season, thus making a total of 4 goals in 30 starts.
On August 31, 2007, Ki-Hyeon Seol signed a three-year deal with Fulham and scored his first goal on August 16, 2008 in a match against Hull City.
Ki-Hyeon Seol is an intelligent, mobile attacker, who can play as a central striker or on the right-side. As of August 2008, he has made 14 appearances for Fulham F.C. and continues to be a bright prospect.
